BELEM, BRAZIL
This morning at daybreak we were sailing into Belem. We anchored in front of one of the Subburbs of Belem, named Icoaraci. We anchored at this location because of the changing water level in the river. The river we were in is named Guama River. Where we were anchored the river was about 6 miles wide. We were anchored about 1 mile of shore. Around 8:30 local time small tender boats started transporting passengers to shore if they decided to do so. It took about 20 minutes to get from the ship to the pier in Icoaraci. The area around the pier was dotted with small fishing boats in an variety of colors. From this pier, there were free shuttle busses available to take us to Belem if you wanted to go there. We boarded the shuttle bus for the 45 minutes ride to Belem. Our stop was at several converted port warehouses. These warehouses were converted to an variety of very nice restaurants and a few stores. Not to forget the ice cream place with over 100 flavours. Next to this warehouse is the Mercado Ver-O-Peso, Brazil’s largest outdoor market. Here you could buy pretty well everything you can think of. Attached to the market is also a large outside food court eating area. (We skipped this place for health reasons) This was the craziest market I ever seen, just packed with local people buying their everyday needs. There was one lady chopping brazil nuts with this huge machete, and yes, I counted and she still had all her fingers. After this display we retrieved to the warehouse restaurant for some lunch. During lunch the sky let loose and dropped about 2″ of rain in 1/2 an hour. We didn’t feel comfortable to venture of on our own into the narrow side street’s for safety reasons. Around 2 pm we boarded the bus back to the tender boats. As there was only 1 docking area for the tender boats, other boats tied onto our tender boat and started unloading passengers through our boat towards the dock. After they were all unloaded, we could continue loading our boat up and head back to the ship. All in all, it made for a interesting day today. The ship set sail around 6 pm. When we were having dinner it felt like we were scraping over a silt bank and almost came to a complete stop. Luckily we made it through it and sailed on. Apparently there was in some places only 2 meters of water below the ship.
There is a large French influence in Belem dating back to the 19th century. The discovery of rubber in the 19th century resulted in an economic boom for the area. It was during this time that a lot of colonial buildings were constructed. Even today Belem is very much an economic and commercial center for the this region. There are approximately 2 million residents living in the Belem area. In Belem there seems to be a sharp contrast between the the rich and poor. I noticed quite a few people sleeping on the street. Also noticeable was the large amount of garbage everywhere. After seeing it rain today, we know where this garbage is eventually is going to end up. Yes, in the river and out to the ocean. I hope this is not something we are going to see going up the Amazon River. There seems to be a need for educating people how to dispose of their garbage properly. On the other side they are busy with their no 1 priority in life, what is providing for their families, what is not always easy.
Regarding the weather, there are 2 types of weather here. Days with rain and days with rain all day.
Cheers for today
“South America ” “Belem ” “Cruising “
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